*  V  . 


AI'^'*-^>^' 


ANADA  AS  IT  IS! 


4 


•e 


■-»'., 


J^r 


An  Address  delivered  November  28th,  i89l, 


BGFORB  BIB 


COMMERCIAL   CLUB   OF    PROVIDENCE,  R.  I. 


BY 


HON.    J.    A.    CHAPLEAU,    M.P.,  Q.C. 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE  OK  THE  DOMINION  OF  CANADA. 


PUBLISHED  BY  REQUEST. 


PBOViD|!NC|i,  R.I,,  December,  1891, 


/^^f 


C  V^-^Jl. 


',  i:;jt; 


HON.   J.    A.    OUAPLEAU,    Q.O.,   M.P., 


ON    THE 


COMMERCIAL  RELATIONS  BETWEEN  CANADA  AND  THE  HNITED  STATES. 


Tho  Commercial  Club  of  Providence,  E.I.,  on  the  evening  of  Saturday,  November  28th,  1891,  for  the  second 
time  in  its  history,  devoted  its  attention  to  the  question  of  closer  trade  relations  between  the  United  States  and 
Canada.  Mr.  Erastus  \V  iuian  Hpoke  before  tho  club  in  February  on  the  advantages  of  reciprocity  with  Canada. 
The  speeches  on  this  occasion  were  to  set  before  tho  members  the  Canadian  Conservative  view,  as  to  tho 
length  Canada  should  go  in  negotiating  a  commercial  treaty  with  the  United  States.  The  Canadian  guests  Avere 
Jlon.  J.  A.  Chapleau,  Secretary  of  State,  Mr.  Richai-d  White,  managing  director  of  the  Montreal  Gazette,  Mr. 
John  Maofarlane,  of  the  Canada  Paper  Conipay,  and  Mr.  L.  H.  Taohd.  Tn  the  evening  at  6  o'clock  a  re- 
ception took  place  in  the  Narragansett  Hotel  parlorn.     At  "7  o'clock'lhe  dinner  began. 

There  wei-c  about  seventy  gentlemen  vi'csent.  Mr.  Arthur  11.  Watson,  President  of  the  (Jiub,  had  the  head 
of  the  table.  Hon.  J.  A.  Chapleau  bat  at  his  right,  with  Governor  Ladd  and  Senator  Dixon  beyond,  and  Mr. 
Richard  White  and  Mr.  John  Macfarlane  on  his  left.  The  other  guests  included  Congressman  Lapham,  Lieut.- 
Gov.  Stearns,  Secretary  of  State  Utter,  Speaker  of  the  House  Capron,  Mayor  Smith,  Col.  Samuel  P,  Colt,  Mr, 
Richard  S.  Howland,  Mr.  Edwin  G.  Angell,  &c.,  &c, 

^\  9  o'clopk  President  Watson  rose  and  called  the  gathering  to  ordor. 


Mr.  Wateon  introduced  Mr.  Ghaplcaa  as  the  principal  wpeaker.  He  said  :  "  This  evening  the  Club  has  the 
honor  to  onterldin  a  distinguished  mombor  of  the  Canmlian  Ministry,  a  gontloman  who  is  by  birth  an  orator  and 
by  education  a  statesman,  who  .ms  hold  many  important  offices  of  state,  and  who,  as  a  leader  of  the  Conservatives, 
is  admirably  qualified  to  speak  of  Canada  as  she  is,  as  she  has  been,  and  as  he  hopds  she  may  be.  T  have  very 
great  plojisure  in  introducing  the  Hon.  J.  A.  Ohaploau,  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Dominion  of  Canada," 

CANADA  AS  IT  IS. 

Mr.  Chapleau  saicL.:  "  Mr.  Ohairman  and  Gentlemen, — The  cordiality  of  the  welcome  you  have  given  me 
reassures  me  against  the  natural  fear  which  a  stranger  must  oxporieuco  in  venturing  to  address,  in  a  language 
foreign  to  his  own,  such  au  assemblage  us  I  see  before  mo.  I  had  folt  honored  by  the  kind  and  flattering 
invitation  tendered  to  mo  by  your  club ;  and  now,  oven  before  I  have  accomplished  the  arduous  task  I  have 
undertaken  in  accepting  your  invitation,  I  feel  rejoiced  and  happy  to  have  accepted  it,  when  I  look  at  the 
sympathetic  faces — when  I  hear  the  Hympathetic  greetings  with  which  you  receive  me. 

"  I  undei'stand  now  why  I  wa.s  not  stopped  by  the  Araerictin  Customs  officer  in  entering  this  country:  that 
intelligent  officer  must  have  at  once  understood  that  my  engagement  here  was  not  an  alien  labor  contract  but  a 
most  plea^•urable  visit  to  a  beautiful  and  most  hospitable  city.  Certainly  I  could  not  desire  to  have  a  more  intelligent 
and  representative  audience  of  the  American  people  than  I  have  hero  to-night.  Smallest  of  all  among  the  States 
of  the  Union,  Ehode  Island,  like  the  little  tribo  of  Benjamin  among  the  twelve  tribes  of  Icrael,  has  always  stood 
among  the  foremost  of  the  brotherhood  of  the  republics  of  the  Western  Continent.  Foremost  in  order  of  history, 
for  was  it  not  here  that  the  Northmen  settled  tive  hundred  yeai-s  before  Columbus  crossed  the  ocean  ?  Foremost 
in  the  gay  world  of  fashion,  so  long  as  Newport  remains  the  crowned  queen  of  society.  Foremost  in  manufac- 
tui'ing  enterprise,  in  proportion  to  its  population.  Foremost  in  its  unequalled  library,  to  which  students  of 
American  history  throughout  the  world  must  come,  and  in  the  front  rank  of  intellect  by  its  university,  the 
Alma  Mater  of  so  many 

BRILLIANT  AND  DISTINGUISHED  MEN. 

That  splendid  pile  of  university  buildings,  your  publio  library,  your  athensBum,  all  with  their  magnificent 
collections  of  books,  going  up  into  high  scores  of  thousands,  are  monuments  of  your  greatness  that  put  ^  shame 
populations  of  five  times  your  magnitude,  (Cheers.)  Your  state  enjoys  the  proud  distinction  of  having 
inaugurated  the  real  development  of  the  cotton  manufacturing  industry  on  this  continent,  an  industry  that 
has  grown  to  proportions  so  colossal,  since  Samuel  Slater's  modest  initial  efforts  at  Providence  and  at  Pawtuoket 
Falls,    St^ndin^  here  and  looking  back  into  the  pa^es  of  biatorv,  I  (^n^  ^eiQiqded  th^t  this  city  qf  youva  is  oa 


sacred  ground.  Sacrod  to  the  cause  of  religious  liberty,  which  here  had  \vn  birthplace,  and  sacroJ  to  the  memory 
of  Eoger  Williams,  '  one,'  if  I  am  allowed  to  quote  a  high-minu  ^d  Protestant  writer,  '  of  the  sweetest  souls  with 
which  God  ever  adorned  the  earth  we  tread.'  Politicial  liberty  you  who  dwell  in  New  England  had  always  in 
abundance,  but  religious  liberty  you  had  not,  nor  did  it  anywhere  exist  in  the  English  colonioo  until,  in  Iho 
mind  of  Roger  Williams,  there  dawned  the  idea  of  liberty  of  the  soul.  1  say  nowhere  else,  for  even  the  charter 
of  Maiyland  excluded  Unitarians.  First  of  all  in  this  City  of  Providence  was  announced  the  only  theory  under 
which  men  can  live  in  harmony  and  peace, 

•       TUE  PRINCIPLE  OF  RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY, 

If,  then,  gentlemen,  the  history  of  your  fair  city  raises  such  noble  thoughts,  how  much  does  its  name,  Providence? 
— "  La  Providence,"  for  the  word  is  a  French  word  too.  How  it  raises  our  thoughts  to  the  Father  of  all  men 
whoso  bund  guides  the  destiny  of  nations  as  well  as  of  men — who  protected  Roger  Williams  in  the  wildei'noss  of 
Narragansett  and  Champlain  on  the  shore  of  the  groat  river  to  the  north. 

"  Gentlemen,  as  [  look  around  and  see  in  your  beautiful  city,  and  in  an  audience  such  as  this,  the  evidence  of 
prosperity  and  culture,  I  can  see  how  bountifully  Providence  has  blessed  you.  His  h'md  has  led  you  along  the 
checkered  path  of  your  destiny  a.id  brought  you  out  in  peace  and  plenty.  I  rejoice  at  it — and  as  I  think  of  your 
career  and  that  of  the  great  Union  of  Republics  of  which  you  form  part — as  I  picture,  in  my  imagination,  the 
opening  vistas  of  your  increasing  prosperity,  I  rejoice — for,  in  the  family  of  nations,  we  are  learning  that  the 
prosperity  of  one  is  the  prosperity  of  all.  Gentlemen — sonsof  Roger  Williams — children  of  Providence — can  there 
be  a  '  Providence'  for  you  and  none  for  us  ?  We  know  that  cannot  be.  We  men  of  the  North  feel  and  know  that 
we  also  have  a  history  and  a  career  and  a  dcstiu}'  before  us,  and  that  the  luminous  star  which  has  guided  you 
will  also  guide  us.  We  feel  that  Providence  has  enti-ustod  to  oui-  hands  the  development  of  the  northern  half 
of  this  continent,  and  we  are  not  cowai-ds  to  shrink  from  our  task. 

"  Men  may  come  here  and  tell  you  that  the  political  party  I  represent  are  actuated  by  hostile  feelings  to 
you;  if  they  speak  so  they  tell  you  falsehoods.  (Hear,  hear  and  cheers.)  Yes  falsehoods.  (Hear,  hoar  and 
cheers.)  Our  feelings  aro  kindly,  and  wo  are  as  desirous  as  they  are  of  extending  the  intercourse  between  our 
country  and  yours  to  the  farthest  limit  of  friendship  consistent  with  manly  dignity.  Why  should  we  not  be 
so  ?  Bat  the  difference  between  their  party  and  mine  is  that  my  party  believes  in  the  destinies  of  Canada — theirs 
does  not.  My  party  believes  in  a  providential  career  for  our  country,  their  party  thinks  that  there  is  no 
Providence  save  for  others.  My  firm  belief  is  that  your  country  and  mine  can  go  on,  each  in  its  own  sphere, 
developing  the  resources  of  this  continent  side  by  side  in  brotherly  amity,  distinguiuhod  by  these  individual 
differences  which  mark  the  members  of  one  household,  but  bearing  the  family  lineaments  of  civil  and  political 
liberty  which  stamp  the  races  from  which  we  have  sprang. 


CANADA  AND  THE  UNITED  STATES, 

placed  8idp  l)y  side  by  nature,  niUHt  either  bo  friends  or  enemies  ;  they  are  too  near  neighbors,  they  have  too 
many  intorisiri  in  common,  too  mnch  ambition  of  the  same  kind  to  bo  indilierent  to  each  othor.  I  think  it  iw 
time  they  should  be  friends.     (Hear,  hoar.) 

"  If  wo  look  back  to  the  past,  wo  find  that  the  two  countiies  started  the  tiamo  year  in  the  race  for  life. 
Quebec  and  Jamostown  of  Virginia,  wero  both  founded  in  1608.  Now  England  was  planted  later  on.  The 
young  Oolonioa  »vei-o  not  out  of  their  loading  strings  when  thoy  began  that  long  series  of  jwars  which  only  ended 
by  the  cession  c  f  Canada.  Those  wero  hard  times,  when  force  roigne<i  supreme,  when  the  life  of  man  was 
counted  for  vary  little  ;  when  both  countries  seemed  to  borrow  the  foi-ooity  of  the  Indians.  Your  ancestiji-s  wore 
accused  of  having  sent  the  Mohawks  to  butcher,  in  the  dead  of  night,  the  inhabitants  of  Lachino.  My  ancestors 
retaliated  by  nouding  expeditious  against  Doerfield  and  Haverhill,  to  accomplish  massacres  which  wero  considered 
great  deeds  in  those  times.  And  to  think  that  Canadians  have  travelled,  for  that  glorious  deed,  all  the  way  from 
Montreal  to  Massachusetts  on  snowsboes,  in  the  middle  of  winter  !  Finally  the  seven  years  war  put  an  end  to 
the  struggle  aud  you  came  out  victors.  The  coiony  of  Now  France,  had  practically  boon  abandoned  by  the 
Mother  Country,  who  did  not  much  value  "  these  few  acres  of  snow,"  as  Voltaire  called  Canada.  It  was  from 
Boston,  and,  therefore,  fi  '>in  the  territory  of  Ehodo  Island,  that-  the  hardest  blows  were  directed  against  New 
France.  It  was  so  mucli  ..«  that  the  English  colonists  wero  known  in  Canada,  not  as  the  Americans,  but  as  the 
Bostouians  (les  Bjstonnais),  a  name  by  which  the  poof  le  of  the  United  States  we  o  known  along  the  shores  of 
the  St.  Lawrence,  up  to  a  very  few  years  ago. 

"  One  feature  has  always  struck  me  when  reading  the  history  of  these  eventful  times  ;  it  is  the  strange,  if 
not  the  deep  diplomacy  by  which  your  forefathers  alternately  used  England  to  turn  the  French  out  of  Canada, 
and  then  used  the  power  of  France  to  drive  the  English  out  of  this  country. 

"  But,  gentlemen,  that  is  the  history  of  the  past,  and,  thank  Heaven,  it  is  forgotten,  in  this  sense, 
that  no  evil  feeling  survives  those  terrible  times.  I  am  not  exaggerating  when  I  say  that  there  is  no 
nation  under  the  sun  that  has  more  prestige  in  the  eyes  of  the  Canadians  than  the  Americans.  We  share  the 
admiration  of  the  world  for  your  greatness,  your  progress,  your  institutions,  which  wo  would  envy  if  we  did  not 
enjoy  the  same  liberties  as  those  you  are  blessed  with.  Like  the  United  States,  Canada  is  a  democracy  organized 
on  a  liberal  basis,  where  the  lace  for  power,  wealth  and  honors  is  open  to  all ;  where  men  at  tbo  holm  to-day  have 
mostly  all  tome  from  the  humblest  ranks  of  society. 

"  And,  now,  gentlemen,  let  me  again  turn  back  to  the  pages  of  history  and,  from  its  teachings,  explain  to 
you  tho  real  "  struggle  in  Canada"  and  the  true  position  of  '•  Canada  as  it  is."  Let  me  show  you  the  true  issue 
which  lately  returned  to  power  those  who  are  now  ruling  our  country,  and  clear  away  from  your  minds 
those  mists  of  misconception  which  our  enemies  have  thrown  around  it  in  oi-der  to  disguise  their  own 
folly  and  failure.    Let  me  tell  you  of  some  of  the   people  who  founded  my  Northland  home.    Very  little 


more  than  one  hundred  yoars  iigo  there  sailed  from  the  port  of  Now  York  a  fleet  of  Kngl'mh  (jhips  hearing  witli  it 
one  of  the  waddoHt  burdens  recorded  in  history,  but  one  full,  alHO,  of  lessonH  of  hope  and  of  courage.  It  was  the 
fleet  which  carried 

THE  TJNITEID  EMPIRE  LOYALISTS 

• 

Becking  in  the  wilderness  now  homes  and  political  institutions  after  their  own  hearts.  That  was  a  Kmali  part  of 
t!io  total  emigration  ;  yet,  in  the  space  of  a  few  weeks,  twelve  thousand  souls — men,  women  aud  (ihildron — snilod 
from  that  singlo  port  of  Now  York.  Thoy  were  not  obscure  or  iinkni'wn  ])eoplo.  They  wore  mostly  from  the 
oducatcd  classes  of  colonists — owners  of  property  and  profo>8ional  men— but  there  wero  people  iirnong  them  of 
all  classes  of  society.  Many  of  them  had  sei  ved  the  King  in  arms.  They  had  fought  for  a  great  idea — they  wore 
unionists  against  secessionists  and  had  fought  for  the  organic  union  of  tho  Anglo-Saxon  race.  Few  of  them  had 
approved  of  tho  parliamentary  measures  which  prccij)itatcd  tho  Revolution;  hul,  in  wui,  only  two  sides  are 
possible,  and  thoy  chose  that  which,  in  their  vicr,  Iisid  tho  hottei- right.  They  loft  behind  them  broad  cuUivuted 
fields  and  roomy  mansions  to  begin  the  world  anew  in  log  huts  and  tents.  The  fleet  carried  thorn  to  tho  rouky 
coasts  of  Acadia,  a  name  which  covers  tho  territory  now  known  as  New  Brunswick  ami  Nova  Scotia.  New 
Brunswick  was  not  known  for  years  after  as  a  separate  Province,  and  but  a  liandful  of  people  wero  scattered  over 
that  immense  territory." 

'•  Other  oxilos  streamed  over  the  northern  border  of  the  colonies  which  had  hecomc  tho  United  States.  Thoy 
entered  what  is  now  tho  prosperous  Province  of  Ontario,  then  a  wilderness  of  forest  roamed  through  by  scattered 
bands  of  Missisanga  Indians.  Their  strong  arms  and  brave  hearts  supported  them  in  their  aiduous  labnurs,  and 
they  built  up  in  Ontario,  as  in  Now  Hrunswick  and  Nova  Scotia,  political  institutions  unsurpassed  in  the  union 
of  freedom  with  order,  by  anything  which  tho  genius  of  the  Anglo  Saxon  race  has  produced  elsewhore.  They 
became  farmers  in  the  western  proviiice  and  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  thoy  became  sailors;  or,  rather,  tlioy  continued 
to  be  sailors;  for  the  settlers  were  chiefly  from  tho  seaboard  colonics;  and  at  this  very  day,  owing  to  their 
maritime  enterprise  and  skill,  the  Dominion  of  Canada  stands  fourth  among  tho  nations  of  tho  world  in  the 
registered  tonnage  of  shipping.  Thus  the  loyalists  proceeded  to  clear  up  a  new  land  for  theniselvcB — now  the 
Dominion  of  Canada." 

"Loyalists!  A  strange  word  that — singularly  antiquated.  For  are  not  all  tho  "enlightened"  asking 
what  is  loyalty?  Why  should  an  illusion  of  past  ages  invade  the  domain  of  practical  politics  ?  These  absurd 
people — these  ancestors  of  ours — only  a  hundred  years  ago  actually  had  political  principles.  Loyalty  is  the  honor 
of  nations — an  abstract 'idea  which  ''disillusionized"  people  do  not  apprehend.  Practical  men  sneer  at  such 
abstractions,  burpractical  men  are,  in  such  matters,  the  most  inconsequential  in  the  whole  world.  The  world  is, 
and  always  has  been,  ruled  by  ideas;  for  man  docs  nor  live  by  bread  alone,  and  nations  which  lose  their  ideals 
dibappear,   not  having   any  real  inner  continuity  of  life.     Loyalty  in   a  people   is  what  character  is  in  a 


8 

man,  the  inner  nnd  abiding  princi])lo  wliich  shnpes  hiH  outward  conduct  to  ono  dofinllo  aiid  HtoiuUly  consistent 
type,  and  groww  stronger  in  thus  ahaping  it.  Loyalty  is  that  which  holds  together  the  congeries  of  raoeH 
ond  tongues  culled  Switzerland,  and  which  saved  the  Unito<l  Slates  in  the  great  civil  war.  So  much  for 
one  element  which  hud  a  lar;<e  share  in  making  the  history  of  Canada,  but  iutonninj^'led  with  thorn  was  a  people 
of  noble  and  ancient  lineage,  to  whom  I  urn  jiroml  to  belong — a  people  isolated  from  the  parent  stock — 
a  people  abuiidonod  by  their  natncal  parents,  who  found  in  the  British  Crown,  though  alien  in  race,  in  language 
and  religion,  a  friend  nnd  protector  when  their  need  was  the  sorest,  and  under  whoso  sway  they  enjoyed  that 
li!  eity  of  the  soul  of  which  Kogor  Williams  had  dreamed.  Is  it  any  wonder,  then,  gontlemon,  that  gratitude 
with  the  French  colonist  should  soon  have  developed  into  loyalty,  and  that  there  should  have  sprung  up  u  deep- 
rooted  feeling  of  attacliment  to  the  British  crown  us  the  tried  guardian  of  tiieir  lungiiago,  their  institutions  nnd 
their  laws.  (Cheers.)  With  such  a  stock  of  men,  strong-hearted,  level-headed,  patient  toilers  ot  the  land  and 
sea,  Canada  was  well  equipped  for  all  emergencies ;  against  open  aggression  us  well  as  subtle  and  tortuous 
methotis  of  encroachments.  And  (rod  knows  we  wore  spared  neither  of  those.  Whether  we  look  back  into  our 
niemoiies  or  listen  to  our  grandparents,  we  lind  that  every  decade  had  brought  itc  own  troubles  and  alarms. 
There  were  the  JJaine  boundary,  the  Oregon  question,  the  sympathizers  of '37,  the  "  codfish  war,"  the  Fenian  raids, 
and  other  weary  disputes,  during  every  one  of  which  our  speedy  and  irretrievable  ruin  has  been  confidently 
predicted;  just  as  our  candid  friends  are  now  cliecrfully  waiting  the  appalling  results  of  the  McKinley  tariff  to 
overtake  us.  iJut  with  all  this  the  prudent  and  thinking  men  who  happened  to  govern  our  country  during 
those  irritating  times,  relying  upon  the  loyalty  and  the  tried  expoi-ience  of  the  people,  succeeded  in  pi  oserv- 
ing  conridcnco  at  home  nnd  peace  abroad.  Wo  had  the  extraordinary  case  of  a  Prime  Minister  leigning  almost 
supreme  over  a  democratic  community,  during  over  a  quarter  of  a  century,  almost  without  interruptiorj. 
(Hoar,  hear,  and  cheers.J     It  must  be  admitted,  however,  that 

THE  PRESENT  CANADIAN  OPPOSITION 

had  good  reason  to  anticipate  success  at  the  elections  which  would  necessarily  have  taken  place  in  the  nutnmn, 
for  the  sixth  parliament  was  in  the  hist  year  of  its  life.  The  influence  of  the  Local  Government  was  in  their  favor 
in  all  the  provinces.  Thoy  had  been  out  of  power  since  1878,  and  it  was  their  turn,  for  a  Government  so 
long  in  office  as  the  present  Domiiaon  Cabinet,  must  make  many  active  enemies  and  lukewarm  friends.  The 
fanners  were  uncomfortable  and  disposed  for  a  change,  when  the  Opposition  committed  the  irretrievable  blunder 
of  identifying  their  party  with  a  policy  of  unrestricted  reciprocity  with  the  United  States,  and  thus  traversing 
the  continuous  traditions  of  Canadian  sentiment  and  history.  Sir  John  Macdonald  watched  th«  moment  when 
they  should  become  hopelessly  committed,  and  then,  unexpectedly,  dissolved  the  House  and  threw  himself  upon 
the  national  feeling  of  the  people.    The  battle  was  fought  politically,  as  far  as  party  programme  wont,  on  a 


protootionist  baaiH,  but  roally  upon  s  fir  deeper  isBue — that  of  national  oxiHtonoe.  No  doubt  this  wuh  disclaimed 
by  the  Opposition.  No  doubt  Sir  Kiciiatd  Ciirtwi-ight  comes  of  a  good  loyul  ntocilc.  No  doubt  Mr.  Liiiuier  would 
dcpi-eoatc  a  union  which  would  dwarf  the  importance  of  his  riico  and  rolij/'ion,  but,  (lovorod  up  thougli  it  was  in 
evory  way,  the  isauo  w;ih  thoro,  and  the  (juiclc  bouso  of 

t     TIIK  PEOPLK  DETECTED  JT  AT  ONCR. 

Thoy  l('l(  that,  in  a  "liickor  "  with  the  United  Statos  Government,  the  national  iudopendence  was  safer  in  the 
hands  of  the  present  Cabinet  than  i  i  that  of  (lioir  oppmenis. 

"  That  a  proposition  to  permit  the  United  States  Uovornmont  to  regulate  our  commerce  and  settle  our  tariff 
should  liave  secured  even  the  measure  of  support  it  did,  ought  to  suggest  much  searching  of  conncience  to  our 
proBOiit  rulein.  The  power  proposed  to  be  Iwindcd  over  so  fratikly  to  Washington  wo  had  won  after  a  long  and 
hai-d  struggle  with  our  own  motherland.  It  was  a  thing  above  all  others  of  which  we  were  most  jealous,  and 
yet,  at  the  'ast  election,  an  important  minority  voted  apparently  to  yield  it  up  to  the  United  Suites.  Any  stone 
is  good  enough  to  throw  at  a  politif-fil  antagonist  and,  cnce  in  power,  the  Opposition  would  feel  its  responsibilitu  s ; 
but  to  permit  Congress  to  close  our  jjorts  against  Great  lirituin,  by  moans  of  the  McKinloy  tarifl'  or  any  such 
Chinese  legislation  as  it  may  adopt,  is  not  a  declaration  of  independence — something  might  be  said  for  that — 
but  a  renunciation  of  independence  and  a  declaration  of  abject  dependence  which  would  stagger  the  solf-respoct 
of  the  smallest  Central  .\merican  republic.  Such  a  policy  would  rapidly  diminish  the  imports  from  England 
and  Franco  and  utterly  destroy  our  own  manufueturefc.  Then  after  ten  or  twelve  years,  the  Detroit  experience 
would  bo  rojieated.  Wo  should  be  told  that  wo  ought  not  to  expect  the  advantages  of  free  trade  with  the 
United  States  unless  we  are  pi'opared  to  share  all  the  burdens  of  citizens.  Then  with  oar  manufactures  ruined 
and  our  self-respect  gone  wo  should  bo  compelled  to  sneak  by  a  back  way  into  the  American  Union,  instead  of 
entering  it  like  free  men  by  free  men's  votes.  But,  say  'siipeiior  persons,"  why  resist  the  inevitable? 
Annexation  must  come  sooner  or  later,  and  they  point  to  the  wealth  ol'the  United  States — its  millionaires,  the 
gieatest  in  the  world.  The  reply  is  easy.  Very  rich  men  are  not  a  strength  but  a  weakness  to  a  state. 
(Hoar,  hear).  Enormous  disparity  of  fortune  has  alwa3's  been  a  sign  of  impending  change,  and  the  stability 
of  a  state  rests  rather  upon  the  absence  of  very  poor  men  than  upon  the  presence  of  very  rich  ones. 
Again  tho  Review  of  Reviews  assures  us,  in  connection  with  a  portrait  of  Mr.  Wiman,  that  "  Canada  is  the  outer 
fringe"  upon  a  groat  industrial  community  of  which  it  shjuld  normally  be  an  integral  portion.  Canada  has  not 
the  material  lesources  of  tho  United  States,  but  she  haa  existed  independent  of  them  since  tho  settlement  of 
America ;  first  as  French  Canada,  then  as  Canada  of  the  exiles,  and  now  as  Canada  of  a  united .  people,  and 
there  seems  to  a  Canatlian  no  reason  why  she  should  not  continue  independent.  Moreover,  let  it  be  granted  that 
eventually  that  is  her  fat<5,  it  is  no  reason  why  she  should  rush  to  it.  A  man  o :'  sense  does  not  shoot  himself  be- 
cause he  must  die  some  day.     (Cheei-s  and'laughter.)    A  good  deal  has  boon  said  at  various  times  in  our  history 


10 

about  the  invasion  of  CitTiada  from  the  Unitort  States.  Tliere  might  bo  some  reanon  of  late  to  talk  about  the 
invasion  of  the  United  States  from  Canada.  (Hear,  hear.)  Contrary  to  the  custom  of  war,  however,  the 
invaders  from  Canada  receive  the 

KINDEST  EECEPTION  IN  THIS  COUNTRY. 

(Cheers.)  Some  become  citizens  of  the  United  States  and  help  to  increase  your  prosperity.  Some  come  hero 
for  the  purpose  of  negotiating  treaties,  not  always  with  success.  And  some,  like  mysolf,  come  at  the  kindest  of 
invitations  to  deliver  public  tiddresses  on  public  questions.  And  all  of  them  have  occasion  to  say  at  the  end  of 
the  visit,  what  Arteraus  Ward  is  reported  to  have  said  to  the  people  of  a  western  town,  '  Gentlemen,  I  never 
was  in  a  placeVhere  I  was  treated  so  well,  nor,  I  may  add,  so  often."  (Laughter.)  This  kindly  treatment, 
well  and  often,  did  not  begin  to  daj'.  Long  ago,  in  185-t,  Lord  Elgin  was  received  in  the  United  Stales  with  a 
remarkable  enthusiasm.  (Cheers.)  In  1850  the  people  of  Buffalo  gave  him  a  reception  on  the  occasion  of  a  formal 
visit  to  ihe  Welland  Canal.  An  amusing  story  baa  been  told  by  the  Mayor  of  Buffalo  at  the  time.  An  enthu- 
siastic guest,  as  he  listened  to  Lord  Elgin,  said,  '  Fine  fellow !  If  he  comes  here  we'll  make  him  Mayor.'  As  the 
speech  went  on,  the  enthusiastic  gentleman  said  excitedly,  '  By  George !  we'll  make  him  Governor  of  the  State.' 
And  finally,  as  the  eloquent  orator  worked  on  the  feelings  of  the  audience,  the  Mayor's  friend  slapped  the  Mayor' 
on  the  shoulder  and  cried.  'Heavens!  we'll  make  him  President— nothing  less  than  President.'  (Cheers  and 
laughter.)  In  1865,  one  oi'the  gr.eatest  orators  that  Canada  ever  produced,  Hon.  Joseph  Howe,  was  joresont  at 
the  great  convention  at  Detroit  and  delivered  an  address  on  the  occasion,  which  deserves  to  be  considered  as  one 
of  the  great  oi-ations  of  the  literature  of  public  affairs  on  this  continent.  I  refer  to  that  speech  for  the  special 
purpose  of  quoting  from  it  one  paragraph  which  is  as  true  and  as  living  in  its  interest  as  it  was  upon  the  day  its 
utterance  moved  the 

MINDS  OF  THE  DETROIT  CONVENTION. 

'I  may  well  feel  awed,' said  Mr.  Howe,  'in  the  presence  of  such  an  audience  as  this,  but  the  great  question 
which  brings  us  together  is  worthy  of  the  audience  and  challenges  their  grave  consideration.  What  is 
that  question  ?  Sir,  we  are  to  determine  how  best  we  can  draw  together  in  the  bonds  of  peace,  friendship 
and  comniorcial  prosperity,  the  three  great  branches  of  the  British  family.  In  the  presence  of  this 
great  theme  all  petty  interests  should  stand  rebuked.  We  are  not  dealing  with  the  concerns  of  a  city,  a  province, 
or  a  state,  but  with  the  future  of  our  race  in  all  time  to  come.  In  1874  Lord  Dufforin,  whose  name  in  every  part  of 
the  woi-ld  is  a  synonym  for  brillancy  and  ability,  had  a  friendly  reception  from  the  Chicago  Board  of  Trade  and 
in  the  course  of  his  speech  he  said,  '  In  the  policy  which  the  Government  of  Canada  has  shown  itself  willing  to 
promote,  I  believe  there  existed  but  one  motive,  and  that  is  the  desire  to  come  to  an  understanding  with  the 
Government  of  the  United  States.     I  do  not  think  that  for  one  moment  we  have  imagined  that  in  any  agreement 


11 

or  treaty  which  may  be  negotiated  it  would  be  either  possible  or  desirable  to  make  a  one-sided  bargain.  What 
we  desire  is  fair  and  equal  dealing,  and  I  believe  you,  gentlemen,  are  actuated  by  the  same  honorable  Hontiment.' 
"  I  have  referred  to  these  events  and  quoted  these  speeches  in  order  to  bring  before  the  minds  of  those  who 
may  have  forgotten  them,  or  may  be  too  young  to  remember  them  well,  the  fact  that  there  has  been  establishetl 
between  these  two  countries  a  tradition  of  friendly  relations  among  public  men,  and  between  public  men  nnd 
public  bodies  on  both  sides  of  the  line — a  tradition  which  no  man  in  his  senses  wishes  to  see  broken,  which  every 
man  who  cherishes  a  love  for  peace  and  the  prosperity  which  accompanies  and  promotes  peace,  wishes  to  Hoe  con- 
tinued and  confirmed.  It  was  in  accordance  with  this  tradition  of  friendliness  that  Mr.  Laurior,  the  leader  of 
the  Opposition  in  Canada,  was  entertained  in  Boston  on  the  Hth  instant  at  a  banquet  at  which  the 
Governor  of  the  State  was  present.  It  is  in  accordance  with  this  same  tradition  of  friendliness  that 
you,  gentlemen,  have  done  me  the  honor  of  inviting  me  to  be  present  and  address  you  this  evening.  I  am 
here  to-day  animated  by  the  friendliest  feelings  towards  this  country  and  by  the  most  perfect  loyalty 
to  my  own  country  and  to  my  Queen.  I  may  therefore  venture  to  carry  on  in  this  address  that  tradition  of  reci- 
procal friendliness  which  Loi-d  Elgin  established,  which  Howe  made  memorable,  which  Loi-d  Dutl'biin  reasserted) 
and  which  I  have  learned  from  my  lamented  friend,  Sir  John  Macdonald,  to  appreciate  and  value  myself. 
(Applause.)     Gentlemen,  I  think  you  do  well  to  receive  the  name  of  Sir  John  Macdonald  with  appluuse,  for 

HE  WAS  YOUE  FRIEND  AS  WELL  AS  MINE, 

and  when  he  died  your  interests  as  well  as  ours  suffered  a  temporary  loss.  If  I  do  not  say  an  irreparable  loss,  it 
is  because  in  this  world  no  man  is  essential  and  all  losses  are  I'epaired  and  all  vacancies  filled  in  time.  But  Sir 
John  Macdonald  established'in  his  lifetime,  and  left  to  us,  old  colleagues,  a  tradition  which  we  are  willing,  nay, 
very  desirous  to  carry  on,  a  tradition  of  friendly  commercial  relations  with  the  United  States  consistently  with  the 
maintenance  of  Canadian  interests  in  the  protection  of  its  rising  industries.  (Cheers.)  To  show  you  how  woL' 
established  is  this  tradition,  let  me  detail  for  you  as  men  of  business  the  steps  which  in  times  past  have  been 
taken  by  the  governments  of  which  Sir  John  Macdonald  and  many  of  his  late  and  present  colleagues  were  m<!niber8, 
to  establish  reciprocal  relations  between  these  countries. 

THE  HISTORY  OF  RECIPROCITY  NEGOTIATIONS, 

as  appeal's  by  our  laws  and  reports,  shows  that  Canada  has  always  been  favorable  towards  fair  and  friendly 
trade  relations  with  the  United  States.  In  1947  an  address  was  moved  in  the  Legislative  Assembly  of  Canada 
praying  that  nogotialions  should  be  entered  into  with  the  Government  of  the  United  States  to  procure  the 
admission  of  Canadian  products  for  consumption  in  their  markets  on  the  same  terms  as  the  products  of  the  United 
States  were  admitted  for  consumption  into  Canada,  that  perfect  reciprocity  may  be  established  between  the  two 
countries.    In  that  same  year  old  Canada  passed  a  law  reducing  rates  on  Import  duties  on  United  States  produota 


12 

from  12J  to  7^  per  cent,  and  raising  tho  rate  upon  British  imports  from  5  per  cent,  to  7i  per  cent.  This  measure 
wa8  passed,  relying  upon  the  supposed  willingness  of  the  United  States  to  negotiate  a  fair  measure  of 
reciprocity  between  the  two  countries.  It  gave  an  immense  advantage  to  the  exporters  of  the  United  States, 
but  no  corresponding  legislation  was  enacted  by  that  country,  nor  was  reciprocity  granted.  In  1849  an  act  was 
passed  enacting  that  '  whenever  under  any  law  of  the  United  States  of  America  the  articles  enumerated  in  the 
sche'lule  to  that  j\.ct  annexed,  being  the  growth  or  production  of  this  province,  shall  be  admitted  free  of  duty 
into  said  United  States  of  America,  then  similar  articles  being  the  growth  or  pioduction  of  the  said  United  States, 
shall  bo  admitted  into  this  province  free  of  duty  when  imported  direct  from  tho  United  States.'  A  similar  bill 
was  reported  by  the  Committee  of  Commerce  and  passed  by  the  House  of  Repi-esentatives,  but  failed  of 
consideration  in  the  Senate  in  both  1848  and  1849.  In  1850  Sir  Fi-ancis  Hlncks  visited  Washington  on  behalf  of 
the  Canadian  provinces  and  addressed  an  able  letter  to  the  chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Commerce  in  favor  of 
the  adoption  of  a  measure  of  i-eciprooity  on  the  basis  followed  by  tho  Canadian  act  of  1849.  His  efforts  failed, 
i<nd  the 

UNITED  STATES  SENATE  REFUSED  TO  ACT. 

In  1854,  after  much  correspondence,  a  treaty  of  reciprocity  was  at  length  negotiated.  Under  this  treaty  the 
following  articles  were  declared  free  in  both  countries,  and  the  treaty  was  to  continue  in  force  for  ten  years  : — 

SCHEDULE. 

Grain,  flour,  and  breadstufts  of  all  kinds  ;  animals  of  all  kinds ;  fresh,  smoked  and  salted  meats ;  cotton,  wool':, 
seeds  and  vegetables;  undried  fruits,  dried  fruits;  fish  of  all  kinds;  products  of  fisli,  and  of  all'Other  creatures 
living  in  the  water ;  poultry,  eggs;  hides,  furs,  skins  or  tails  undressed  ;  stone  or  marble  in  its  crude  or  unwrought 
state;  slate;  butter,  cheese,  tallow,  lard,  horns,  manure;  ores  or  metals  of  all  kinds,  coal,  pitch,  tar,  turpentine, 
ashes,  timber  and  lumber  of  all  kinds,  round  howed  and  sawed,  unmanufactured  in  whole  or  in  part,  firewood, 
plants,  shrubs  and  trees;  pelts,  wool,  fish-oil,  rice,  broom-corn  and  bark  ;  gypsum,  ground  or  unground;  hown, 
wr^jught  or  unwrought  burr  or  grindstones ;  dye  stuffs ;  flax,  hemp  and  tow ;  manufactured,  unmanufactured 
tobacco,  rags. 

Scarcely  had  the  treaty  been  put  in  operation  when  agitation  began  in  the  United  States  for  its  amendment  or 
abrogation.  The  border  cities  complained  that  their  manufactured  goods  met  an  import  duty  at  the  Canadian 
frontier,  that  Canadian  duties  on  manufactures  were  rsused  from  15  to  20  per  cent.  This,  in  the  face  of  the  fact 
that  mnnufactured  goods  were  excluded  by  express  words  from  the  operation  of  the  treaty,  that  United  States 
duties  on  manufactured  goods  imported  fiom  Canada  were  higher  than  Canadian  duties  on  like  articles,  and  were 
raised  by  tho  Morrill  tariff ;  that  consular  fees  were  imposed  for  proof  of  origin  of  free  goods,  and  that  the  United 
States  used  no  effort  to  obtain  free  ubo  of  the  State  canals  for  Canadian  vessels.    The  agitation  was  taken  up  by 


13 

the  Legislature  of  New  York  State  and  pi'eesed  upon  Congress  by  a  resolution  of  bothlHouses  of  that  body. 
And  it  had  its  effect.  In  1865  notice  of  the  abrogation  of  the  treaty  was  *  iven  by  the  United  States,  but 
neither  Great  Britain  nor  Canada  abandoned  the  friendly  attitude  they  had  always  taken.  When  the  notice  of 
the  abrogation  of  the  treaty  of  1854  was  given  on  March  11,  1855,  by  Mr.  C.  F.  Adams,  in  London,  to  Lord  John 
liussell,  the  British  minister  was  disposed  to  think  that  the  Government  of  the  United  States  was  not  serious, 
so  great  a  body  of  commercial  opinion  in  the  United  »States  seemed  favorable  to  the  continuance  of  the 
treaty,  fn  1865  Sir  Alex.  Gait  and  Hon.  W.  P.  Howland  from  Canada,  Hon.  W.  A.  Henry  from  Nova  Scotia, 
and  Hon.  A.  J.  Smith  from  New  Brunswick,  were  sent  by  their  respective  govoi-nraonta  to  Wiwhinglon  to 
co-operate  with  Sir  R  Bruce  in  a  friendly  attempt  at  negotiation  for  a  renewal  of  the  treaty  of  1854.  These 
gentlemen  found  '  that  no  renewal  or  extension  of  that  existing  treaty  would  be  made  by  the  American 
authorities,  but  that  whatever  was  done  must  be  done  by  legislation.' 

THE  NEGOTIATIONS  FAILED; 

owing  to  the  unfriendly  feeling  in  Congress,  a  result  which  Lord  Clarendon,  in  a  despatih  to  Sir  F.  Bruce, 
most  sincerely  deploi-ed.  By  the  Customs  Act  of  1868,  section  6,  certain  enumerated  articles,  the  growth 
of  the  United  States,  were  permitted  to  be  imported  into  Canada  from  the  United  States,  free  of  duty  or  at  a  less 
rate  of  duty  than  is  provided  in  the  said  schedule  upon  the  proclamation  of  the  Governor-in-Council,  whenever 
the  United  States  shall  provide  for  the  importation  of  similar  articles  from  Canada  into  that  country  ee  of  duty 
or  at  a  less  rate  of  duty  than  is  now  imposed  on  the  importation  from  Canada  of  such  articles  into  the  United 
States.'  This  was  an  olive  branch  held  out  by  Canada  to  the  United  States  in  spite  of  the  hostile  experiences  of 
previous  years.  In  1869  Sir  John  Rose  was  sent  by  the  Canadian  Government  to  Washington,  and,  in  conjunction 
with  Sir  Edward  Thornton,  proposed  new  negotiations,  with  the  consent  and  approval  of  the  British  Government 
of  thnrt  time,  for  a  reciprocity  treaty  based  on  the  treaty  of  1854,  with  the  addition  of  manufactured  articles  to  the 
free  list,  the  mutual  opening  of  the  coasting  trade,  the  protection  of  patents  and  copyrights,  and  a  treaty  of 
extradition.  It  was  found  impossible  to  make  auy  propositions  which  the  American  GovernnMJnt  would  accept 
and  the  negotiations  fell  through.  In  1871,  during  the  session  of  the  joint  committee  which  framed  the 
Washington  Treaty,  Sir  John  A.  Macdonald,  Commissioner  for  Canada,  and  his  colleagues,  the  British 
Commissioners,  proposed :  '  That  the  Reciprocal  Treaty  of  1854  should  be  restored  in  principle.'  Tiie  United 
States  Commission  replied  in  the  negative.  In  1872  the  Government  of  Sir  John  Macdonald  in  response  to  a 
resolution  of  the  Board  of  Trade  of  the  Dominion,  called  attention  to  the  fact  "  that  both  Her  Majesty'n  Govern- 
ment and  the  Government  of  Canada  have  availed  themselves  of  every  suitable  opportunitj-,  since  the  abi-ogation 
of  the  reciprocity  treaty,  to  press  upon  the  Government  of  the  United  States  (he  desirability  of  a  renewal  of 
reciprocal  trade  relations  between  the  latter  country  and  Canada,  upon  a  broad  and  liberal  basis ;  and  submits  for 
the  favourable  oonsideratlon  of  Your  Bxoellenoy  in  Coanoil  that  the  Dominion  Boai-d  of  Trade  be  informed  that 


14 

Bhould  the  Government  of  the  United  States  comply  with  the  wishes  of  the  United  States  National  Board  of 
Trade,  the  subject  will  receive  the  fullest  consideration  oftheGovernment  of  Canada.  Tlio  United  States  National 
Board  af  Trade  in  1872  had  petitioned  Congress  for  &  renewal  of  reciprocal  tiade  relations  with  Canada  ;  and  the 
Dominion  Board  of  Trac'.e  had  brought  this  fact  to  the  notice  of  the  Governnont  of  Canada, 

"In  18'74,  Mr.  George  Brown,  at  the  instance  ofthoMackenzie  Government,  which,  by  its  minute  of  council,  de- 
clared its  belief  that  a  most  favorable  opportunity  was  pres  sr,  led  for  a  renewal  of  negotiations  for  a  reciprocity  treaty, 
was  sent  as  a  commissioner  to  Washington,  and,  in  conjur/ction  with  Sir  Edward  Thornton,  after  a  good  deal  of 
discussion,  negotiated  a  draft  treaty  of  reciprocity.  But  the  President  did  not  oven  allude  to  it  by  message,  nor 
did  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  a  thing  within  the  scope  of  its  authority,  ratify  or  even  deign  to  discuss  it. 

THE  FAILURE  OF  GEORGE  BROWN'S  ATTEMPT 

in  18'74  had  such  an  effect  on  Mr.  Mackenzie's  Government  that  during  the  remainder  of  its  tei-m  it  made  no 
further  attempt  in  that  direction.  In  1875,  when  Mr.  Wallace  asked  if  the  Governmeut  intended  to  renew 
negotiations,  Mr.  Mackenzie  replied  :  '  We  will  always  be  ready  to  negotiate  for  a  reciprocity  treaty  with  any 
nation.'  In  inaugurating  the  national  policy  of  1879,  which  had  become  an  essential  part  of  public  policy  in 
Canada,  if  it  were  to  have  any  great  national  industries,  the  Government  of  Sir  John  Macdonald  did  not  overlook 
their  traditional  goodwill  towai-ds  the  United  States  and  towai-ds  fair  reciprocal  relations.  Therefore,  the  Customs 
Act  of  1879,  chapter  16,  section  6,  contained  a  special  enactment  still  favoring  reciprocity  on  a  liberal  scale.  No 
answer  was  made  to  that  offer.  In  1887,  when  Sir  Charles  Tupper  was  at  Washington,  he  made  a  for- 
mal proposal  once  more  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States  for  a  mutual  an-angemont  providing  for 
greater  freedom  of  commercial  intercourse  between  the  United  Slates  and  Canada  and  Newfoundland.  Mr. 
Bayard's  reply  was  a  flat  refusal.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  position  assumed  by  Canada  has  from  the  first 
been  thoroughly  consistent  and  continuously  favorable  to  the  adoption  and  maintenance  of 

A  JUST  AND  REASONABLE  MEASURE  OF  RECIPROCITY 

with  the  United  States.  This  has  been  shown  :  1.  In  the  address  of  1847.  2.  In  the  act  passed  in  1849,  in  the 
Cusfoms  enactment  of  statutory  otfences,  in  1868,  1879,  and  1888;  and  in  the  speedy  ratification  by  onr  Parlia- 
ment of  the  treaties  of  1854,  1871  and  1888.  3.  In  the  repeated  efforts  made  by  Canada  tor  the  continuance  of 
the  old  treaty  of  1854,  and,  after  its  abrogation,  for  the  renewal  of  reciprocal  relations  on  a  fair  and  equitable 
basis.  This  expose  establishes  that,  in  Canada,  we  all  agree  on  the  necessity  of  establishing  closer  commercial 
relations  between  the  two  connti'ies.  The  disagreement  begins  on  the  means  to  attain  that  desirable  object. 
The  only  pai-ty  who  has  not  shown  his  willingnese  to  do  anything,  but  whose  consent  is  all-impoilant  in  the 
matter,  is  Brother  Jonathan,  wlio  must  laugh  in  his  sleeve  at  the  sight  of  our  struggle,  if  ha  has  made  up  his 
mind 


16 
NOT  TO  TRADE  WITH  THE  KANUOKS. 

The  great  argument  put  forth  in  fiivor  of  unrestricted  reciprocity  is  that  it  would  open  to  Oanadii  a  market 
of  sixty  millions  of  people,  forgetting  that  Canada  wojld  find  in  that  market  of  sixty  millions  competitors  in  all 
wo  can  sell  to  the  Americans.  They  forget  that  the  United  States  are  the  greatest  producers  of  the  world,  and 
that  there  is  not  one  article  of  the  farm  which  they  do  not  produce.  They  overlook  the  fact  that  our  young 
industries  would  be  crushed  in  the  struggle  in  Canada  with  the  powerful  and  old  American  manufactures.  Of 
couiue,  there  is  no  denying  the  fact  that  your  tariff  is  very  hard  on  Canada.  It  pinches  in  several  places,  but 
we  are  not  on  that  account  to  stand  there  and  raise  our  hands  to  heaven.  (Hear,  hear.)  In  this  strait,  we  did 
and  are  doing  what  shrewd  and  energetic  Americans  would  have  done  in  our  position.  Wo  turned  around  and 
looked  for  new  markets  for  our  surplus  productions.  We  have  succeeded  with  many  articles,  and  are  sure  to 
dispose  of  the  balance  before  long,  saying  in  the  meantime  to  you :  Gentlemen,  if  you  wish  to  trade  with  as,  we 
are  ready;  just  now  is  the  time,  but  remember  we  aio  no  beggars  and  can  afford  to  do  without  you,  although 
not  without  some  hard  efforts.     (Cheers.) 

THE  McKINLEY  TARIFF 

is  a  measure  for  the  passing  of  which  we  ought  not  to  feel  angry  with  the  United  States.  It  has  done  ns  good. 
It  has  caused  us  to  realize  that  we  can  stand  upon  our  own  feet,  where  before  we  leaned  a  little  for  support  upon 
the  United  States.  (Hear,  hear.)  Here  and  there,  commodities  we  have  to  sell  have  experienced  restricted  sale 
in  consequence  of  the  McKinley  tariff;  but  speaking  in  general  the  McKlnley  tariff  has  not  been  felt  to  be 
injurious  in  its  results.  The  best  proof  of  this  is  the  cii-culation  of  bank  notes.  You  kilow,  we,  in  Canada,  have 
the  best  banking  system  in  the  world,  not  excepting  even  the  Scotch  system,  on  which  ours  is  modelled.  (Hear, 
hear.)  Years  ago  Hunt's  Merchants'  Magazine,  of  New  York,  eulogized  the  paper  currency  of  Canada  as 
possessing  a  decided  proclivity  all  the  time,  and  especially  in  dull  seasons,  to  return  to  the  emitting  bank.  That 
is  to  say,  such  notes  cannot  be  kept  out  except  so  far  as  they  are  in  active  .employment,  for  they  can  find  no 
resting  place  outside  of  the  vault  of  the  issuer,  and  this  makes  them  fluctuate  in  amount  exactly  in  obedience  to 
the  wants  of  commerce.  A  few  weeks  ago  Mr.  Cornwall,  cashier  <of  the  Bank  of  Buffalo,  read  a  paper  at  the 
meeting  of  the  American  Bankers'  Association  in  Now  Orleans,  in  which  he  said:  'Canada  has  for  many 
years  existed  under  a  banking  law  which  has  given  her  a  circulating  medium  full}'  meeting  all  the  j'equirements 
of  every  season,  both  as  to  elasticity  and  safety,-  and  to-day  she  has  the  most  perfect  currency  system  oj 
any  nation  in  the  world  except  Scotland.'  Now  the  circulation  under  this  banking  system  is  the  best  tost 
of  the  state  of  the  country.  If  there  is  prosperity,  the  circulation  expands;  if  times  are  dull,  down  goes  the 
circulation. 


1« 

BEFORE  AND  AFTER. 

Here  is  a  table  which  shows  the  condition  of  things  after  and  before  the  McKinley  tariff  went  into  force. 
The  expansion  of  circulation  from  July  to  October  of  each  year  was : 

1885 $4,C08,00O 

1886 6,439,000 

1887 6,107,000 

1888 6,005,000 

1889 4,890,000 

1890 5,313,000 

1891 6,602,000 

You  will  see  that  the  increase  in  the  circulation  required  for  the  business  of  the  country  in  October,  as  com- 
pared with  July  of  1891,  was  the  largest  of  all  the  years  given.  It  was,  with  the  exception  of  three  previous 
Octobers,  the  largest  of  any  year.  It  was  the  largest  in  ten  years.  (Hear,  hear.)  Now,  in  Canada,  the  expansion 
of  circulation  from  July  to  October  in  each  year  is  duo  to  the  crops  in  the  first  place.  It  is  the  farmer  and  the 
moving  of  his  products  that  run  up  the  circulation.     You  will  see,  therefore,  that 

• 

THE  CIRCULATION  IS  THE  BEST  TEST  .    • 

of  the  condition  of  the  farmer.  If  the  McKinley  tariff  had  hit  the  Canadian  fai*mer  hard,  the  circulation  would 
have  been  of  only  a  normal  character,  or  below  the  average.  But  the  circulation  last  October  was  $1,250,000 
above  the  average  of  the  previous  six  years,  or  24  per  cent,  of  an  increase.  It  is  evident  that  the  McKirlcy 
tariff  has  done  Canadian  farmers  no  harm.  Why  ?  Simply  because  we  have  sought  for  other  markets  and 
have  been  successful,  and  have  found  these  markets  were  profitable,  less  liable  to  interference  and  with  better 
prospect  of  future  growth.     (Hear,  hear.) 

•  •  • 

■•  THE  MARKETS  WE  HAVE  SOUGHT 

are  principally  for  food  products  ;  onr  lumber  and  other  products  of  the  forest,  the  world  needs  and  takes.  There 
is  a  constant  demand  for  these.  During  ten  years,  1880-89,  exports  of  forest  products  averaged  $22,386,000  a 
year.  In  1890  they  were  $26,180,000,  or  $3,800,000  above  the  average.  These  look  after  themselves.  So  of  the 
pi-oducts  of  our  mines.  Our  asbestos  is  the  best  in  the  world.  Our  phosphates  are  of  the  highest  quality.  Our 
nickel  will  soon  be  in  the  steel  armor  plates  of  the  navies  of  the  world,  recent  experiments  in  the  United  States 
showing  the  immense  value  of  nickel  in  the  composition  of  these  armor  plates. . 


17 

NOW  OUR  FARM  PRODCICTS 

are  finding  thoir  way  to  the  old  countries  of  Europe,  principally  to  England.  The  points  that  troubled  our  far- 
mers when  the  McKin'ey  tariff  came  into  force  were  barley,  lambs,  horses  and  eggs.  The  general  trend 
of  our  oxportp  of  agricultural  products  during  twenty-five  yonrs  has  been  an  increase  in  exports  to  Europe 
and  relative  decrease  in  such  exports  to  the  United  States.  That  is  quite  natural  and  irrespective  of 
taritTs.  In  186b  wo  sent  60 '36  per  cent,  of  our  farm  products  ta  the  United  States  and  i{4'61  per  cent,  to 
Great  Britain.  In  1890  we  sent  60-08  per  cent,  to  Great  Britain  and  36-50  per  cent,  to  the  United  States — as 
near  as  possible  a  complete  reversal  of  the  positions  occupied  by  those  two  countries  a^  takere  of  our  farm  products, 
and  during  that  period  the  aggregate  tnvde  of  Canada  in  those  products  has  increased  in  u  large  proportion.  The 
McKinley  tariff 

SIMPLY  STIMULATED  THE  MOVEMENT 

which  has  been  going  on  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century.  With  respect  to  barley,  we  sot  to  work  and  grew 
two-rowed  barley  such  as  California  grows,  and  now  wc  appoiir  in  the  English  markets  as  competitors  of 
California,  instead  of  supplying  the  Eastern  and  Middle  States,  .is  we  did.  (Hear,  hear.)  We  sent  in  1800 
to  England  five  times  the  quantity  of  barley  we  did  in  1889,  and  very  much  more  in  1891  than  1890 — the 
reports  being  very  favorable  and  showing  that  our  barley  in  England  will  have  the  same  superiority  it  has  in  the 
United  States.  With  respect  to  eggs,  we  used  to  send  all  we  had  to  spare  to  the  United  States.  It  was  con- 
venient. It  suited  the  stage  of  development  of  our  transportation  facilities.  But  the  McKinley  tariff  came  in 
force  just  when  we  had  solved  the  question  of  transportation  of  fragile  articles,  and  wo  were  able,  without  ^ 
break  to  the  continuitj'  of  movement,  to  switch  off  to  the  English  market.  This  season  wo  have  sent  thre^ 
million  and  a  half  dozen  of  eggs  to  England,  where  in  1889  we  sent  about  three  thousand  dozen.    We  hav« 

SUBSTITUTED  MILLIONS  FOR  THOUSANDS. 

(Hear,  hear.)  The  market  for  eggs  in  Great  Britain  is  immense;  and  actual  experience  shows  that  we 
can  put  our  eggs  down  at  a  lower  rate  of  freight  than  Prance  can  send  them.  We  can,  with  pur 
cooler  northern  route  across  the  Atlantic,  transport  them  in  the  best  condition.  The  market  for  horses 
is  increasing.  We  sent  nearly  ten  times  as  many  hoi-ses  to  England  in  1891  as  we  did  in  18!)0.  They 
commanded  a  higher  price  in  England ;  and  as  soon  as  we  raise  just  the  sort  of  horses  England  wants  we 
can  get  still  higher  prices.  The  day  for  the  street  car  "  screw  "  is  past ;  electricity  has  electrocuted  them.  The 
McKinley  tariff  finished  what  little  life  there  was  left,  and  we  are  going  in  for  better  hoi-sos.  (Laughter.)  We 
did  a  large  trade  in  lambs  with  the  United  States,  and  nice  juicy  food  they  were.  The  farmers  thought  that 
trade  would  surely  feel  bad  eflfects  from  the  McKinley  tariff.     The  lamb  trade  went  right  along,  and  in  Poi-th, 


18 

where  tho  Consorvativo  party  had  a  large  demonstration  recently — and  whkh  is  the  centre  of  a  largo  lamb- 
raising  district — the  tnrmorB  said  they  never  got  better  prices  than  this  season.  In  the  article  of  cheese 
we  find  a  market  in  Great  Britain  for  all  wo  can  produce,  and  possibly  it  may  surprise  some  that  we 
exported  to  outside  countries  in  1890  over  $9,300,000  against  $8,600,000  exported  by  the  United  States  to 
all  coun'ries.  Wo  have  recently  found  that  thei'o  is  in  England  a  market  for  all  the  poultry  we  can  raise, 
and  oui'  initial  ventures  have  proved  such  a  success  that  the  coming  Christmas  in  England  will 

SEE  MORE  TONS  OF  CANADIAN  POULTRY 

distribuled  over  the  British  isles  than  there  were  in  previous  years  single  individuals  of  this  class  of 
food.  In  pork  proiiucts  we  have  discovered  that  we  have  a  supcriorit}'  of  one  cent  a  pound  ovei-  those  of  the 
United  States.  This  has  stimulated  ])rodiiction,  ar.d  notwithstanding  our  increased  export  this  season  to  Great 
Britain  we  have  in  the  single  province  of  Ontario  neaily  400,000  swine  more  than  we  had  in  1889.  With  respect 
to  manufactures  the  recent  census  shows  that  the  amount  of  capital  invested  has  increased  by  over  20(t  ])er  cent., 
as  compared  with  ten  years  ago  ;  that  the  average  artisan  produces  more  and  is  paid  more  than  he  was  ten  years 
ago.  Now,  gentlemen,  let  mo  remind  you  of  a  very  important  point  when  j-ou  talk  of  tho  offers  made  by  the 
Liberals  of  Canada  and  of  those  of  the  Conservatives.  There  is  a  great  ditference  in  the  ])Ositiou  of  men  in  power 
and  men  in  opposition,  in  men  with  the  grave  responsibilities  of  office,  and  men  having  to  answer  only  for  each 
of  themselves  individually  and  not  bound  by  any  of  their  promises  made  in  Opposition.  With  this  truth  before 
your  eyes  I  can  assert  that  if  the  Liberals  came  into  power  they  would  not  give  more  to  the  Americans  than  we  can, 
for  this  reason  of  state  necessity,  that,  if  they  did,  they  could  not  carry  on  the  Government  of  Canada  for  want  of 
money.  Canada  has  spent  fifty  millions  in  improving  her  waterways;  one  hundred  millions  in  building  railroads 
and  many  millions  in  oth(>r  public  works.  These  expenditures  constitute  the  public  debt  which  is  to  be  paid,  and 
tho  tariflt'  is  looked  to  to  supply  the  interest.  The  carrying  out  of  the  Liberal  platform  would  mean  the  greatest 
crisis  that  Canada  has  ever  seen.  The  Liberals  are  too  wide  awake  not  to  see  the  breakers  ahead  of  their  policy, 
and  they  would  avoid  them  ;  but  in  the  meantime,  if  they  can  use  the  Americans  to  hoist  themselves  into  power, 
they  do  not  see  why  they  should  not  do  it.  Tho  unrestricted  reciprocity  scheme  will  receive  Hs  quietus  the  very 
day  the  Liberals  come  into  power.     But  I  go  further  and  say  that 

UNRESTRICTED  RECIPROCITY  IS  DEAD. 

"  Tho  more  it  is  discussed  the  farther  off  it  seems.  An  important  letter  by  Hon.  Edward  Blake  completely 
exhausts  the  question,  and  must  prevent  it  from  continuing  to  be  the  main  plank  of  the  Opposition  platform. 
Rather  than  follow  in  i(^  dangerous  course  the  party  of  which  lie  has  bo  long  been  a  distinguished  leader,  Mr. 
Blake  has  chosen  to  abandon  public  life  altogether.  When  loyalty  to  the  country  prevails  over  loyalty  to  such 
f'ose  and  long  existing  party  ties,  one  is  justified  in  feeling  renewed  confidence  in  the  destiny  of  Canada. 


19  . 

Sir,  the  diflcussioii  of  tbnt  important  topic,  tho  commercial  intercourse  between  Canada  and  the  United 
States,  has  given  rise  to  some  other  questions  involving  directly  the  national  existence  of  our  country.     First, 

THE  QUESTION  OF  NATIONAL  INDBPENDKNCB. 

There  are  those  who  say,  and  they  are  not  far  from  telling  the  truth,  that  every  native  born  Canadian  is 
Canadian  first  and  last,  and  that  every  day  the.  proportion  of  native  born  Canadians  increases  as  against  the 
native  born  Britons  forming  tho  Dominion.  It  is  true,  and  I  admit  it,  (hut  every  (^nnadian  wants  at  maturity  a 
country  of  his  own  to  live  for,  to  fight  for,  and,  if  necessary,  to  die  for.  (Hear,  hear  and  cheers.)  Nobody  is  so  deaf  to 
the  teachings  of  history,  as  not  to  realize  the  natural  fact  that  colonies,  like  shoots  from  the  parent  tree,  gradually 
but  surely  tend  towards  independent  life.  Tho  only  question  is  a  question  of  time.  The  age  of  majority  foi- 
children  has  been  fixed  by  the  wise  legislation  of  great  men,  at  different  ages  for  different  countries  or  diflferent 
purposes,  and  it  greutly  depends  upon  the  circumstances  in  which  a  young  man  is  situated  in  relation  to  his 
father,  either  tho  line  of  business  ho  pureuos,  the  amount  of  interest  he  has  or  the  measure  of  liberty  he 
enjoys  under  the  protection  of  his  father  before  he  finds  it  useful  and  wise  to  go  into  business  on  his  own  account. 
This  is  the  very  position  of  Canadians.  Although  dependent  on  the  Mother  Country  for  our  protection  among 
the  other  nations  of  the  world,  we  are  enjoying  a  measure  of  political  liberty  which  ^ 

IS  EQUIVALENT  TO  INDEPENDENCE. 

(Hear,  hear.)  "  In  that  respect  I  fully  agi-oo  with  Mr  Laurier,  who  said  at  Boston  the  other  day  that  '  England  has 
granted  to  Canada  and  to  all  her  colonies  every  right,  principle  and  privilege  which  she  once  refused.'  Nowadays 
has  been  realized  the  truth  proclaimed  by  Charles  James  Fox,  in  the  last  century,  that  the  only  method  of  iieeping  k. 
British  colony  is  to  give  power  to  govern  themselves.  So,  to-day,  the  British  Goveinment  docs  not  attempt  to 
lay  taxes  on  us  or  force  British  goods  into  our  ports.  We  are  at  this  moment  at  liberty,  and  wo  have  the 
right,  to  tax  British  goods  and  British  wares.  With  pride  I  say  it,  though  Canada  is  still  a  colony,  Canada  is  fiee. 
The  only  tie  that  binds  Canada  to  the  motherland  is  Canada's  own  will.  After  admitting  that  there  is  in  Canada 
at  the  present  moment  no  desire  for  independence,  the  Liberal  leader  says  that  he  believes  '  that  the  time  has 
come  when  the  powers  of  self-government  that  we  have  ai"e  not  adequate  to  onr  present  development;  that  we 
should  be  endowed  with  another  power,  tho  power  of  making  our  own  commercial  treaties.'     Here  I  must 

JOIN  ISSUE  WITH  MR.  LAUEIER 

and  I  cannot  do  better  than  to  quote  from  tho  powerful  contribution  of  your  distinguished  fellow-counti-yman,  Mr. 
Andrew  Carnegie,  in  one  of  tho  last  numbers  of  The  Nineteenth  Century.  Speaking  against  the  scheme  of 
Imperial  Federation,  which  has  attracted  so  much  attention  in  late  years,  Mr.  Carnegie  says :  'It  surely  cannot 


20 

have  failed  to  attract  tho  attention  of  the  inemberH  of  tho  Imperial  Federation  League  that  even  Sir  John  Mao- 
donald,  a  native  born  Briton,  waH  forced  to  announce  tliat  Canada  was  no  longer  to  be  thedepemJont,  but  the  ally  of 
Britain.  In  fiitnro,  said  Sir  John,  i\»  quoted  by  Mr.  Carnegie,  '  England  would  be  the  centre,  Rurrounded  and 
Kustained  by  an  alliance,  not  only  with  Canada,  but  with  Australia  and  all  her  other  possessions,  and  there  would 
be  thus  formed  an  immense  confodorutlon  of  freemen — the  greatest  confederacy  of  civilized  and  intelligent  men 
that  over  had  an  existence  on  tho  face  of  the  globe.'  "'Alliances,'  adds  Mr.  Carnegie,  'are  made  between 
independent  nations.  Sir  John  must  have  also  embiaced  the  Republic,  for  this  is  necessary  to  make  the  greatest 
confederacy  of  intelligent  and  civilized  men.  Sir  John  asserted  the  independence  of  Canada  to  the  fullest  extent, 
when  he  recently  commanded  Lord  Salisbury  to  tear  up  a  treaty  which  had  br>en  agreed  upon  by  Sir  Julian 
Pauiicoforto  and  Sccretai-y  Blaine,  with  Lord  Salisbury's  coi-dial  approval,  which  the  British  Government  had 
presumed  to  make  without  consulting  Canada.'  I  do  not  vouch  for  the  accuracy  of  Mr.  Cainegie's  representation 
of  Sir  John's  views,  but  I  believe  in  that  mysterious  and  natural  growth  of  nations  towards  independence,  which 
alone  can  give  them  the  full  development  of  their  strength  and  resources.  That  sentiment  does  not  exclude, 
in  ita  patriotism,  tho 

FULL  EXERCJSR  OF  ALLEGIANCE  AND  LOYALTY. 

• 

I  am  not  prepared  to  say,  with  Mr.  Laurior,  that  simple  questions  of  fiscal  policy  or  commercial  treaties  can 
bring  the  severance  of  Canada  from  il  -  tonnoclion  with  Great  Britain,  as  it  did  bring  it  in  your  country  in  1715. 
I  again  prefer  the  authority  of  Mr.  Carnegie,  who  writes  that: 

'  It  was  not  a  question  of  taxes  that  produced  the  independence  of  the  United  States,  this  wae  the  incident 
only  which  pi-ecipitatod  what  was  bound  to  come  a  few  years  sooner  or  later,  independent  of  any  homo  policy. 
Franklin  and  Adams  had  no  idea  of  separating  from  the  motherland  when  they  led  in  tho  refusal  to  be  taxed 
from  Westminster;  but  they  soon  found  themselves  compelled  by  a  public  sentiment,  until  then  latent,  to  advance 
to  independence.' 

Sir,  I  am  a  British  born  subject,  and  a  Frenchman  by  parentage.  I  am  proud  of  and  loyal  to  the  great  countiy 
to  which  I  politically  belong  ;  I  am  proud  of  and  true  to  the  blood  that  runs  through  my  veins,  that  Norman 
blood  which  is  tho  boast  of  the  noblest  scions  of  England.  The  two  nations  are  deserving  of  your  love  and  respect, 
as  they  have  mine.  You  owe  to  one  3'our  birth  as  1  owe  her  my  freedom  as  a  citizen  ;  tho  other  helped  you  in 
your  struggle  for  independence,  whilst  she  gave  me  my  birth  as  a  man.  Both  have  noble  traditions;  in  tho 
bannors  of  both  there  is  glory  enough  to  cover  the  world.  (Loud  Cheers.)  With  such  a  parentage,  with  such 
traditions  of  courage,  of  intelligence,  of  gloiy,  are  the  Canadians  to  bo  denied  the  noble  ambition,  the  sure 
destiny  of  being  a  people  by  themselves, 


81 

AN  INDEPENDENT  NATION  ? 

I  do  notdoabt  if  n\ore^than  I  doubt  my  sincere  ftllef^iance  to  the  conBtitution  of  my  country  and  to  my  sovoroign. 
Bat  I  do  not  doubt  eitiior  that  no  powev  on  earth  will  force  me  into  flubmission  against  my  will  or  agninnt'my 
conscience.  Againstmy  Willi  would  be,  made  a  slave,  never  a  subject.  And  the  hour  has  passed  in  the  life  of  nations, 
and  that  hour  novor  camo  in  this  free  continent  of  America,  when  free  men  could  be  forced  into  another 
people's  allegiance.  I  know  that  it  has  been  said  and  written  both  in  this  country  and  in  ours  that  the 
effect  of  the  McKinley  tariff  will  so  cramp  the  trade  and  finances  of  the  people  of  Canada  that  we  will  be 
compelled  to  seek  annexation  to  the  United  States.  Well,  sir,  I  know  the  feolings  of  our  people,  with  whom 
I  have  lived  in  constant  communion  of  sentiment  during  the  thirty  years  of  my  political  life,  and  I  do  not 
hesitate  a  moment  to  say  that  no  consideration  of  finance  or  trade  can  have  influence  on  the  loyalty  of  the 
descendants  of  the  races  of  whom  I  spoke  to  you  in  the  opening  of  my  address,  or  tend  in  the  slightest 
degree  to  alienate  their  affections  from  their  country,  their  institutions,  their  Go/ornment  and  their  Quoon. 
(Cheers.)  IF  any  one  in  this  meeting  believes  that  in  refusing  commercial  interoourwe  toOanuda  Congress  wpuld 
undermine  the  loyal  feelings  of  our  people,  he  is  labol-ing  under  a  delusion  and  doing  injustice  to  a  people  whoso 

SENTIMENT  OF  LOYALTY  IS  AS   INDELIBLE 

as  your  own,  and  I  cannot  do  bettor  than  affirm,  with  more  energy  if  it  be  possible,  with  Mr.  Laurier  what  he 
affirmed  the  other  day  in  Boston  •  '  If  such  a  boon  as  freedom  of  trade  were  to  bo  purchased  by  the  slightest 
sacrifice  of  my  nation's  dignity,  I  would  have  none  of  it.'  Let  us  rather  cherish  the  idea,  Sir,  that  those  solemn 
and  proud  professions  of  dignity  and  courage  will  not  be  needed,  but  that  the  public  men  of  both  countries, 
echoing  the  sentiments  of  the  two  nations,  will  find  a  happy  solution  of  those  important  problpras.  For  my  own 
pai't,  I  look  to  the  future  with  hope  and  with  security,  with  Andrew  Carnegie.  1  would  cheeifully  set  aside  the 
scheme  of  Imperial  Federation,  the  theory  of  an  empire  trade  league,  to  see  roi.;ize<l  the  grand  idea  of  a  race 
alliance  of  all  the  countries  blessed  with  the  noble  and  free  political  institutions  which  (rreat  Britain  has  devised 
for  the  good  of  humanity,  an  alliance  which  would  hasten  the  day  when  one  power  would  be  able  to  say  to  any 
nation  that  threatened  to  begin  the  murder  of  human  beings  in  the  name  of  war  under  any  pretence  : 

'  Hold,  I  command  you  both  ;  the  one  that  stirs  makes  me  his  foe. 
Unfold  to  me  the  cause  of  quarrel  and  I  will  judge  betwixt  you . ' 

A  Kriegsverein  with  power  so  overwhelming  that  its  exercise  would  never  be  necessary." 

"Those  are  noble  words  from  a  noble  heart  and  I  endorae  them  with  the  same  enthusiasm  as  I  endoroeyour 
own  countryman's  conclusion,  'Fate  has  given  to  Britain  a  great  progeny  and  a  great  past.  Her  future 
promisee  to  ^^  PP  less  gr^atftn4  prolific ;  l)ut,bowerer  numeroua  tho  children  tl^w§  cm  o«ver  be  but  on©  mother, 


22 

and  that  mother,  great,  honored  and  beloved  by  all  her  offspring — ae  I  pray  she  be— is  this  sceptred  isle,  my 
native  land.    God  bless  her.'     (Cheers). 

SIR,  THERE  IS  NOTHING  TO  DESPAIR  OP, 

nothing  to  fear,  whon  the  great  citizens  of  a  country  are  disposed  to  approacli  and  discuHs  the  burning 
issues  standing  in  the  face  of  two  countries  in  such  a  lofty  spirit,  with  such  a  largo  and  warm  lioart. 
(Cheers.)  I  have  no  doubt  but  that  the  same  sentiment  of  noble  foUownhip  which  animates  you, 
animates  the  great  American  nation.  (Hear,  iioar.)  I  know  that  such  is  the  Hcntiment  which  ani- 
mates  our  people  in  Canada.  I  am  not  hero  as  a  representative  of  the  Canadian  Government.  I  have 
not  and  could  not  have  asked  such  a  mission  when  T  accepted  your  kind  social  invitation,  liut  I  must  not  forget, 
and  you  cannot  ignore,  that  I  am  a  member  of  the  House  of  Commons  of  Canada,  and  that  I  have  the  right  to 
convey  to  you  the  expression  of  the  good  will,  of  the  heartfelt  sympathy,  and  the  offer  of  the  widest  possible 
measure  of  reciprocity  in  friendliness  and  good  wishes  from  my  Canudian  fellow-countrymen.  Yes  1  In  Canada 
wo  rejoice  in  your  prosperity,  in  your  magnificent  development,  in  your  patriotic  love  for  your  flag,  in  your 
solution  of  some  of  the  great  problems  that  troubled  your  national  existence  and  in  your  assured  hope  of  solving 
them  all.  But  we  are  proud,  too,  of  our  own  country  and  our  own  flag,  of  the  splendor  and  strength  of  our  le- 
sources  and  of  the  well  nigh  boundless  possibilities  of  our  future  greatness.  Even  as  you  do,  we  love  free 
institutions  ;  these  we  have,  and  they  are  the  best  suited  to  us  and  to  the  genius  of  our  population.  If  you  .have 
a  republic,  we  have  a  veritable  commonwealth — '  a  crowned  republic '  as  it  has  been  happily  called.  You  are  far 
ahead  of  us  in  point  of  numbers,  but  we  know  that  our  people  live  in  peace  and  plenty  no  loss  than  yours. 
(Hear,  hear.)  And  it  is  our  hope  that  Canada  and  the  .United  States,  in  friendly  rivalry  in  all  the  art«  of 
peace,  in  all  the  marts  of  commerce,  may  go  on  through  the  ages  to  come,  the  happiness  and  prosperity  of  each 
acting  !i8  a  stimulus  to  the  best  efforts  of  the  other,  each  working  out  a  destiny  of  the  brightest  augury,  and  so 
linked  in  the  bonds  of  amity  and  loving  kindness  that  thoy  may  be  said  in  the  majestic  words  of  Milton,  "  To 
progress  through  the  groat  circles  of  revolving  centuries,  clasping  hands  with  unfailing  joy  and  bliss  in  ovormea- 
sure  forever."     (Loud  and  prolonged  cheers.) 

"  Mr.  Chairman  and  gentlemen,  I  thank  you  for  your  kind  invitation,  for  your  cordial  reception  and  for 
your  patient  attention.  This  day  will  remain  on§  of  the  brightest  of  my  life,  andjfpr  it  I  will  ever  thank  you 
and  never  forgot  "  Pi-ovidence," 


